


Power vs Love

by justbygrace



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 14:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9662228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbygrace/pseuds/justbygrace
Summary: A first sentence prompt fic for KK ages ago





	

"Power is fleeting; love is eternal." Rose stared at the quote on the wall of the monastery, enjoying the way someone had painted the words with bright colors, adding light to the otherwise drab walls. It was an odd sort of homage to the idea behind the quote, she thought, the light and color of love hand-in-hand with the unyielding drab stone. She wondered if it was done intentionally or if the painter had just been searching for any canvas on which to memorialize their thoughts, determined to add color to the cold surroundings.

"There's a story there," the Doctor's voice sounded from behind her. 

She didn't respond verbally, merely stepping slightly to the side so he could have a clear line of sight to the painted words. He walked closer, stopping when he was standing directly next to her. There was only a hairsbreadth between them, but to Rose it felt like a chasm. It had for awhile, since the parallel universe, since France, since the school, since the regeneration. Even Mickey, bless him, had recognized it, trying to call her out on it, but she had put him off even as she felt her own heart shattering. She suddenly realized the silence between her and the Doctor was getting lengthy and she raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to inevitably start talking, to fill the quiet with his non-stop words while saying nothing at all.

"It's a simple story. Or not so simple, depending on how you look at it. Two people, well, not people strictly speaking. Two beings from two worlds. They meet, they adventure, they fall in love. It happens..." He trailed off and she allowed that. When he started speaking again, his voice was different, intense in ways it usually wasn't. "Power comes in all forms, you know. Power over life and death. Power over people. Power over time. Power to not give in to desire. But the power to give up that power, that is a whole different kind of power altogether. You know what the best and worst type of power is?" He paused again, shuffled his feet, and she scarcely dared to draw a breath let alone answer his question. "The power of love. Because it clouds your judgment, but makes you free. It ties you down and gives you wings. Love makes you remember why there are sunsets and planets, but it makes it hard to remember things like duty and responsibility." There is another pause, a longer one. She had no idea what to say to him and he seemed to be weighing his thoughts carefully for once. "That quote is both right and wrong, I think. Power for the sake of power is fleeting. People will go to see someone crowned with as much joy as they will go to see a man killed. Love though. It is eternal, never truly dies no matter what should happen. It may flicker, may dim a bit, but it is always there And that is both a blessing and a curse. Do you understand that, Rose Tyler?"

She rolled his words around in her mind, testing the weight of them, the durability, and the truth. "If love is truly eternal than how could actions taken on the behalf of that love be something to flee from?" It may not be what he was referring to, but it is the conversation they are having and they both know it.

"Actions have consequences. Long-term consequences beyond the simple here and now. The sort of thing that lasts for an eternity past the moment of action." It's an argument they've had a hundred times over, though rarely with this many actual words.

"You think I don't know that?" On some level she was irritated that he wanted to discuss all this right now, but mostly she was relieved that he was actually communicating, albeit in this roundabout manner.

"I think you do believe me, but I don't think you truly know it." He sounded resigned like he'd decided this long ago without consulting her at all and, knowing him, he probably had.

"So, you're going to throw it all away because of what? Because of consequences? Because of the fear of power? Because of the fear of love?" She folded her arms across her chest, suddenly chilly. 

"You don't know what I am! What I'm capable of!" He was practically yelling now.

The red-hot anger took her by surprise and she rounded on him. "Yes, I do know you! I've been there right beside you when you faced death and the daleks and bloodshed and war and cybermen and bloody parallel universes. I know you, Doctor, better than anyone else right now, I'd bet. It's you who doesn't know yourself." Her anger was fading, replaced by a sense of sympathy so profound she found it hard to breath. 

"Rose..." He broke off, clenching and unclenching his fists compulsively.

"I'm right here, Doctor. Right here, right now. Maybe not tomorrow, probably not forever. Right now." She was planning to say other things, but she was cut off by his hands on her waist, gripping her tight and pulling her to him, his lips closing over hers. The kiss was bruising, almost punishing, but she understood his anger, knew it was directed at the universe and time and laws, but not at her, never at her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, rubbing circles on his back, soothing him the best she could. Wherever this went, however this went, it wasn't going to be fleeting; it would be eternal.


End file.
